Best Bottles for de-labeling

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belmontbrew

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I'm new to homebrewing (in the middle of my first batch), and I wanted to share my experience cleaning and de-labeling beer bottles. I learned that some beers give up their labels easily, but others don't. Here's my list:

First off, my procedure for de-labeling was to put half a scoop of Oxiclean into a big bucket, load with 25 bottles, and then fill with water. After a soak of at least 1 hour, I then pulled off the labels by hand and scrubbed off any remaining glue with a green dish pad.

BEST (labels come off on their own, no glue residue):
Kona Longboard
Carmel
Kirkland Wheat Beer

GOOD (labels pull off easily, little to no glue residue):
Sam Adams, regular
Sam Adam Summer Ale
Trader Joe's Vienna Lager
Michelob Amber Bock

WORST (labels leave paper reside, lots of glue residue):
Widmer heffeweizen
Sierra Nevada

That's it. I also discovered that, if you ask around, you can procure 100 free beer bottles in a week and a half.
 
Soak 'em overnight in the Oxi Clean solution. I've found very few labels that stand up to that sort of treatment.

Guinness Draught bottles (the ones with the widget) are the easiest. They have plastic labels that can be sliced off with a razor blade. There is no glue on them at all. Remove the widget with a pair of thin needle nose pliers.
 
From my last delabeling mission...

Very easy: Paulaner
Easy: New Belgium, ODell, Deschutes
Hard: Flying Dog, Avery
Dreaded: Bridgeport, Breckenridge Brewery

That was after fifteen minutes in warm water with baking soda, so it might be easier if I had more patience!
 
Has anyone used Amonia/water mix to de-label? If so what concentration and how well did it work?
 
+1 on sam adams

also Guinness stout 22s are money
and any deschutes bottles are pretty easy
 
Agree that Sam Adams were great. I just tossed them in the dishwasher and fished all the paper out afterwards. A few needed a slight scrub to get the rest of the glue off, but 90% were perfectly clean.

Worst ever are bridgeport. I soaked them for a few days to get the paper off them. I don't think I will mess with them next time.

Hmmm, sams here is carrying cases of sam adams for about $1 a bottle. . . might have to stock up on bottles.
 
Dark Horse bottles are the worst. The adhesive turned into a gummy mess after the paper disintegrated. I probably could have used citrus solvent or paint thinner but I just gave up and recycled them.
 
I find Sierra Nevada's to be pretty easy. Soak them overnight in plain water and the label peels right off. The glue comes off pretty easily if you scrub it with a tuffy (plastic scouring pad thing).

Honestly, the only bottles I haven't been able to delabel have been the ones where it's painted on, like Stone, and I bet something like carb cleaner or mineral spirits would work on those.
 
+1 Sam Adams

I soak them in hot water with some baking soda. The labels will fall right off and you can use a blue or green scrubbie with dish soap to scrub the adhesive gunk right off ...

Of course I just ordered a 2 keg system with dual body regulator so I'm done scrubbing bottles !!! :ban:
 
Redstone Meadery has labels that come right off provided you let them soak in a water/dish soap mixture for about 10 minutes. I like these bottles because they have the resealable tops!
 
I'm partial to Great Lakes Brewing bottles. The labels just slide off after an hour or so in an oxyclean bath.
 
highland brewing co. outta asheville, nc--the labels wont come off easily even after multiple days soaking in oxyclean. don't even bother. fullers, sweetwater, and bell's come off without a hitch for me.
 
I delabeled some Great Lakes and Sierra Nevada last night for some swaps and competitions. 30 min hot soak in hot Oxiclean and the labels just fell off.
 
The labels fall off of Sierra Nevada after an o/n soak, but there's a ton of glue residue that I have to wash off. I hate that. Dos Equis isn't too bad, if you pull the label off slowly.
 
I've found nearly all imports fall right off, I figure this is because these bottles were made to be re-used by the companies (or were at some time) so they made the labels easy to get off. oh, and the foil from sam smith's comes off if you take some steel wool in your hand wrapped around the top of the bottle and twist it back and forth for like 5 seconds.
 
only bottles i've had to actually scrub to get the labels off were magic hat bottles, they were horrible!
 
victory bottles come very clean,

smuttynose labels suck and leave a lot of residue. it takes me 3 days soaking to peel the smuttynose, and leaves a nice smear of glue on the bottle.
 
I usually go with Flying Dog. I get a 12-pack sampler of mixed types of beers and then do the hot water/oxyclean thing. Not only to the labels float right off but the bottles have no marking like Sam Adams or Bass bottles have. I end up with completely clean generic bottles...

-Tripod
 
Worst 2 I have dealt with are Magic Hat and Brooklyn.. Sam Adams and Hooker Brewery bottles are so easy I have my 3 year old do them!! It's a game....
 
i like arcadia best just a warm water bath for 20min and they fall off when you pick them up. the worst locally is dark horse and bells
 
I just did a batch of around 80 bottles, various labels. I put 1/4 cup of PBW in the sink with the hottest tap water. My kitchen sink will only do about two dozen bottles at a time (wish I had a laundry sink). Sam Adams are pretty good, but compensate for that by some having three labels. Schlafly were best, Boulder Beer only OK. Had a few Two Brothers.....which have great beer in them, but which should be avoided for delabeling. The labels peel off, being some kind of plastic, but the adhesive underneath is NOT water-soluble. Nothing I had handy would dissolve it, and I didn't feel like experimenting, so I pitched 'em.
As was mentioned in a previous post, Guinness bottles are probably the best out there, particularly if you hate to remove labels. The label is shrink-on, so it can just be sliced off with a utility knife, and the plastic "torpedo" inside removed with a pair of needle-nose pliers.
I finally tried a Michelob "craft beer lite" sampler. The beers were -predictable- but the bottles were really nice. They look good, and the labels come right off.

To be sedulously avoided: Saranac, Celis....jacks or better to remove labels!

Strangely, every Euro beer I've delabeled (Franziskaner, Paulaner, etc.) comes off very easily. Dunno why.
 
I'm partial to Great Lakes Brewing bottles. The labels just slide off after an hour or so in an oxyclean bath.

+1 I soaked some Two Hearted Ale bottles for an hour is extremely hot water. When I came back, the labels were so scared of me they just removed themselves.
 
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